The name Moira, sometimes spelled Moyra, is an Anglicisation of the

Irish name A formal Irish name consists of a given name and a surname. In the Irish language, surnames are generally patronymic in etymology but are no longer literal patronyms as, for example, most Icelandic names still are. The form of a surname varies ac ...

Máire Máire is the Irish language form of the Latin Maria, which was in turn a Latin form of the Greek names Μαριαμ, or Mariam, and Μαρια, or Maria, found in the New Testament. Both New Testament names were forms of the Hebrew name or Mir ...

'', the

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

equivalent of

Mary Mary may refer to: People * Mary (name), a feminine given name (includes a list of people with the name) Religious contexts * New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below * Mary, mother of Jesus, also calle ...

.Daria Izdebska, ''The Oxford Handbook of Names and Naming'', 2016, , p. 538 Transliterated with Greek letters Μοίρα is the Greek word for Destiny, i.e. the three

Fates The Fates are a common motif in European polytheism, most frequently represented as a trio of goddesses. The Fates shape the destiny of each human, often expressed in textile metaphors such as spinning fibers into yarn, or weaving threads on a ...

People

Television and film

Moira Brooker Moira Brooker (born 1957) is an England, English actress and presenter. She is best known for playing Judith Hanson in the long-running British sitcom ''As Time Goes By (TV series), As Time Goes By''. The program lasted for nine series between ...

, English actress *

Moira Buffini Moira Buffini (born 29 May 1965) is an English dramatist, director, and actor. Early life Buffini was born in Cheshire to Irish parents, and attended St Mary's College at Rhos-on-Sea in Wales as a day girl. She studied English and Drama at Gold ...

, English dramatist, director and actor associated with the In-yer-face theatre style * Moira Chen, a pseudonym for actress

Laura Gemser Laurette Marcia Gemser (born 5 October 1950) is an Indonesian-Dutch retired actress, model and costume designer. She is primarily known for her work in Italian erotic cinema, most notably the ''Emanuelle'' series. Many of her films were collabo ...

Moyra Fraser Moyra Fraser (3 December 1923 – 13 December 2009) was an Australian-born English actress and ballet dancer, who is best known for playing Penny in the long-running sitcom '' As Time Goes By''. Her sister was the actress Shelagh Fraser. She mar ...

, Australian-born English actress *

Moira Harris Moira Jane Harris Sinise (born April 19, 1954) is a retired American actress. Biography Harris was born in Pontiac, Illinois and is a Roman Catholic convert. She graduated from Illinois State University in Normal, Illinois. During her college ye ...

, American actress *

Moira Kelly Moira Kelly (born on March 6, 1968 in Queens, New York) is an American actress. She is known for portraying Kate Moseley in the 1992 film ''The Cutting Edge'' as well as single mother Karen Roe on the teen drama '' One Tree Hill''. She is also k ...

, American actress *

Moira Lister Moira Lister Gachassin-Lafite, Viscountess of Orthez (6 August 192327 October 2007) was a South African-British film, stage and television actress and writer. Early life Born in Cape Town to Major James Lister and Margaret (née Hogan), Liste ...

, South African actress *

Moira McLean Moira McLean (born 4 October) is an Australian television presenter, where she is known as an advertorial spokesmodel. McLean in her career, made regular appearances on '' Good Morning Australia'' with Bert Newton on Network Ten which ran fr ...

, Australian morning television presenter *

Moira Quirk Moira Shannon Quirk (born October 30, 1968 in Rutland, England) is an English actress and comedian. As an audiobook narrator, she has won four Audie Awards. Personal life and education Quirk was born on October 30, 1968 in Rutland, England ...

, English actress *

Moira Redmond Moira Redmond (14 July 1928 – 16 March 2006) was an English actress. Biography She was born in Bognor Regis, Sussex, England. Her parents were actors and director managers, although she was also cared for by other relatives. Her grandfathe ...

, English actress *

Moira Shearer Moira Shearer King, Lady Kennedy (17 January 1926 – 31 January 2006), was an internationally renowned Scottish ballet, ballet dancer and actress. She was famous for her performances in Powell and Pressburger's ''The Red Shoes (1948 film), Th ...

, Scottish ballerina and actress *

Moira Stuart Moira Clare Ruby Stuart, (born 2 September 1949) is a British presenter and broadcaster. She was the first female newsreader of Caribbean heritage to appear on British national television, having worked on BBC News since 1981.Moira Dela Torre Moira Rachelle Bustamante Dela Torre (born November 4, 1993) is a Filipinos, Filipino singer-songwriter. Born in Olongapo, Philippines, she began as a voice artist for corporate jingles and theme songs. In 2013, she competed in The Voice of the ...

, Filipina singer-songwriter

Other fields

Moira Anderson Moira Anderson (born 5 June 1938) is a Scottish singer. Life and career Moira Anderson was born on 5 June 1938 in Kirkintilloch, Dunbartonshire, Scotland. She was educated at Lenzie Academy, She then attended the Royal Scottish Academy of Mu ...

, Scottish singer * Moira Brinnand, Argentine field hockey player * Moira Brown, Canadian-born North Atlantic right whale researcher *

Moira Cameron Moira Cameron was a Yeoman Warder of the Tower of London, United Kingdom. She is the first woman to ever hold the position. In 2007, after a 22-year career in the British Army, Cameron became one of the 35 resident Warders in the Tower of London, ...

, British soldier, first woman Yeoman Warder of the Tower of London * Moira Crone, American fiction author * Moira Leiper Ducharme, first female mayor of Halifax, Nova Scotia * Moira Gatens, Australian academic *

Moira Gunn Moira Gunn is both an academic and a professional journalist. She is perhaps best known as the host of the public radio program technation.com, Tech Nation, its regular segment BioTech Nation, as well as the weekly tech-sci commentary, Five Minut ...

, American radio host *

Moira MacLeod Moira MacLeod (born 16 October 1957) is a retired female field hockey player from Scotland, who was a member of the British squad at the 1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad ( ...

, British field hockey player *

Moira O'Neill Moira O'Neill was the pseudonym of Agnes Shakespeare Higginson (1864–1955), a popular Irish ethnicity, Irish-Canadians, Canadian poet who wrote ballads and other verse inspired by County Antrim, where she lived at Cushendun. In 1895, she and h ...

, Irish-Canadian poet *

Moira Rayner Moira Emilie Rayner (née Stockwell, born 10 November 1948), is a New Zealand-born, Australian-based barrister and human rights advocate. In 1986, she was appointed a Commissioner of the Law Reform Commission of Western Australia, a position she ...

(born 1948), New Zealand-born, Australian-based barrister and human rights advocate *

Moira Senior Moira Anita Senior (born 22 July 1976 in New Plymouth, New Zealand) is a field hockey striker from New Zealand, who finished sixth with her national team at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. She competed at the Commonwealth games either side o ...

(born 1976), field hockey player from New Zealand

Fictional characters

Moira MacTaggert Dr. Moira MacTaggert (sometimes spelled ''MacTaggart'', ''McTaggart'', ''McTaggert''), more recently known as Moira X, is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. She first appeared in ''The Uncanny X-Men ...

, a recurring character in ''X-Men'' comic books * Moira/Max Sweeney, on the Showtime television network series ''

The L Word ''The L Word'' is a television drama that aired on Showtime from January 18, 2004 to March 8, 2009. The series follows the lives of a group of lesbian and bisexual women who live in West Hollywood, California. The premise originated with Ilene Ch ...

'' *

Moira O'Hara '' American Horror Story: Murder House'' is the first season of the FX horror anthology series ''American Horror Story''. The season's theme is infidelity, and focuses on the plight of the Harmon family, Ben and Vivien, their daughter Violet and ...

, a character in the TV series ''

American Horror Story ''American Horror Story'' is an American anthology horror television series created by Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk for the cable network FX. The first installment in the '' American Story'' media franchise, each season is conceived as a ...

'' *

Moira Queen Quakemaster Moira Queen Moira Queen is the mother of Oliver Queen/the Green Arrow. She and her husband Robert were killed by lions during an African safari. Moira Queen in other media Moira Queen was portrayed by Susanna Thompson in The CW's ...

, Oliver Queen's mother in the ''Green Arrow'' comic books *

, Oliver Queen's mother in the TV series ''Arrow'' * Moira O’Deorain, a character in the video game ''Overwatch'' * Wendy Moira Angela Darling, a character in ''

Peter and Wendy ''Peter Pan; or, the Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up'' or ''Peter and Wendy'', often known simply as ''Peter Pan'', is a work by J. M. Barrie, in the form of a 1904 play and a 1911 novel. Both versions tell the story of Peter Pan, a mischievous li ...

'' by

J. M. Barrie Sir James Matthew Barrie, 1st Baronet, (; 9 May 1860 19 June 1937) was a Scottish novelist and playwright, best remembered as the creator of Peter Pan. He was born and educated in Scotland and then moved to London, where he wrote several succe ...

* Moira Banning, wife of Peter Banning/

Peter Pan Peter Pan is a fictional character created by List of Scottish novelists, Scottish novelist and playwright J. M. Barrie. A free-spirited and mischievous young boy who can fly and Puer aeternus, never grows up, Peter Pan spends his never-ending ...

in the movie ''

Hook A hook is a tool consisting of a length of material, typically metal, that contains a portion that is curved or indented, such that it can be used to grab onto, connect, or otherwise attach itself onto another object. In a number of uses, one e ...

'' * Moira Thaurissan, Queen Regent of the Dark Iron Clan, a minor character in the popular

MMORPG A massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) is a video game that combines aspects of a role-playing video game and a massively multiplayer online game. As in role-playing games (RPGs), the player assumes the role of a Player charac ...

World of Warcraft ''World of Warcraft'' (''WoW'') is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) released in 2004 by Blizzard Entertainment. Set in the ''Warcraft'' fantasy universe, ''World of Warcraft'' takes place within the world of Azeroth ...

'' * Moira, a character in

Margaret Atwood Margaret Eleanor Atwood (born November 18, 1939) is a Canadian poet, novelist, literary critic, essayist, teacher, environmental activist, and inventor. Since 1961, she has published 18 books of poetry, 18 novels, 11 books of non-fiction, nin ...

's ''The Handmaid's Tale'' * Moira Theirin, mother of Maric Theirin in

BioWare BioWare is a Canadian video game developer based in Edmonton, Alberta. It was founded in 1995 by newly graduated Doctor of Medicine, medical doctors Ray Muzyka, Greg Zeschuk and Augustine Yip, alongside Trent Oster, Brent Oster, and Marcel Zes ...

's ''

Dragon Age ''Dragon Age'' is a media franchise centered on a series of fantasy role-playing video games created and developed by BioWare, which have seen releases on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Microsoft Windows, OS X, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. Th ...

'' franchise * Moira Brown, a character in

Bethesda Game Studios Bethesda Game Studios is an American video game developer and a studio of ZeniMax Media based in Rockville, Maryland. The company was established in 2001 as the spin-off of Bethesda Softworks' development unit, with Bethesda Softworks itself ...

' ''

Fallout 3 ''Fallout 3'' is a 2008 action role-playing game developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. The third major installment in the ''Fallout'' series, it is the first game to be developed by Bethesda after acquiring ...

'' * Moira Burton, a character in

Capcom is a Japanese video game developer and video game publisher, publisher. It has created a number of List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises, with its most commercially successful being ''Resident Evil' ...

's Game '' Resident Evil: Revelations 2'' *

Moira Barton Moira Dingle (also Barton) is a fictional character from the British soap opera ''Emmerdale'', played by Natalie J. Robb. The actress successfully auditioned for the role after a call came through her agent. Robb's character and her family wer ...

, recurring character in soap opera, ''

Emmerdale ''Emmerdale'' (known as ''Emmerdale Farm'' until 1989) is a British soap opera that is broadcast on ITV1. The show is set in Emmerdale (known as Beckindale until 1994), a fictional village in the Yorkshire Dales. Created by Kevin Laffan, '' ...

'' * Moira Vahlen, Chief Scientist in the video game, '' XCOM: Enemy Unknown'' * Moira Queen of Remba in Roger Zelazny's ''Chronicles of Amber'' *

Moira Rose Moira Rose is a fictional character in the Canadian sitcom ''Schitt's Creek,'' which aired on CBC and Pop from 2015 to 2020. Moira is introduced as the eccentric former soap opera star wife of Johnny Rose and mother of their adult children, Dav ...

, a character in the

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

television series ''

Schitt's Creek ''Schitt's Creek'' (stylized as ''Schitt$ Creek'') is a Canadian television sitcom created by Dan Levy and his father, Eugene Levy, that aired on CBC Television from 2015 to 2020. It consists of 80 episodes spread over six seasons. Produced by ...

'' * Moira Davidson, a character in the novel and 1959 film '' On The Beach'' * Moira, a minor character in the first episode of '' Pokémon: Black & White: Adventures in Unova'' * Moira Crewe, a character in ''

Seveneves ''Seveneves'' is a hard science fiction novel by Neal Stephenson published in 2015. The story tells of the desperate efforts to preserve ''Homo sapiens'' in the wake of apocalyptic events on Earth after the unexplained disintegration of the Moo ...

'' by

Neal Stephenson Neal Town Stephenson (born October 31, 1959) is an American writer known for his works of speculative fiction. His novels have been categorized as science fiction, historical fiction, cyberpunk, postcyberpunk, and baroque. Stephenson's work exp ...

* Moira Linton, a character in the

Malory Towers ''Malory Towers'' is a series of six novels by English children's author Enid Blyton. The series is based on a girls' boarding school that Blyton's daughter attended, Benenden School, which relocated during World War II to the Hotel Bristol i ...

novel series, by

Enid Blyton Enid Mary Blyton (11 August 1897 – 28 November 1968) was an English children's writer, whose books have been worldwide bestsellers since the 1930s, selling more than 600 million copies. Her books are still enormously popular and have be ...

References

{{given name, Moira Irish feminine given names English feminine given names de:Moira ja:モイラ